1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for adding a predetermined quantity of material to a reactor. More particularly, this invention relates to a method and apparatus for adding a predetermined quantity of sand to a cement or mortar mixer.
2. The Prior Art
It is extremely important to properly ratio the amounts of sand, water, and cement which are mixed in a cement or mortar mixer. That is, for each bag of Portland cement (94 pounds per cubic foot) there should be a predetermined number of gallons or pounds of water and a predetermined number of cubic feet of sand (80 pounds per cubic foot). In response to the demands of the architect, many masonry contractors or plastering contractors have a one cubic foot box made out of plywood which the workers are supposed to use for adding the sand. This plywood box is used by the workers whenever the architect or other inspector is present at the job site. However, when there is no architect and/or inspector present at the job site, some of the workers may take short cuts and approximate the one cubic foot of sand by a predetermined number of shovelfuls of sand. This leads to inaccuracies because it is easy to lose track of the number of shovelfuls. Secondly, the workman might have a tendency to put less sand on the shovel at the end of the day as compared to the morning.
A preliminary search was conducted on the present invention. The following listed U.S. patents were uncovered in the search:
2,628,127 PA1 3,160,439 PA1 3,323,837 PA1 3,578,806 PA1 3,693,744 PA1 4,494,797 PA1 4,619,531 PA1 4,632,461
None of the above patents are considered to be sufficiently pertinent as to require any comment.